I'm not so sure intervening militarily in Syria is such a good idea. President Obama wants to do it, and so in contrast to their usual anti-militarist stance, news agencies are literally trying to bully everyone into it, with some even going so far as to lower themselves to the emotional blackmail of blaming the deaths of children on anyone who opposes military action or who even wants to approach with more caution. (<Yes, I'm referring to CNN there. Shameless and irresponsible of them, don't you think? And to think they'd be bashing a Republican for this very same course of action. Oh, well.) But I think more caution is advisable, when you consider the bigger picture of America's possible involvement.
Once we drop a bomb or fire a missile, everything will be our fault according to the rest of the world. Assad's regime could even blow up residential areas and say we did it; we couldn't prove otherwise in a situation like a civil war, and most of the Middle East would believe the worst of us and our motives anyway. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't: we'll get blamed for intervening and killing people, and we'll get blamed for not intervening and allowing people to be killed. But it's a lot easier and cheaper to be damned if we don't: at least then we can say we are not directly guilty of anything. And we can condemn chemical attacks in the strongest possible terms. But there is nothing to be gained through a military strike and oh so much that could possibly go wrong.
The rest of the world does not get the same news coverage as we do, and they don't like President Obama anymore after all the spying scandals, the bullying diplomacy, all the leaks of abuses, and the drone warfare campaigns. The news people are still fawning all over President Obama and furiously spinning everything his way and propagandizing for his policies here in America, but not abroad anymore. And the rest of the world can't wait to bash America again, so I imagine they're drooling over the chance to pounce on us for anything and everything that goes wrong once we enter the fray in Syria. It's a no-win situation with many chances for unintended consequences. But at least it will distract from the low poll numbers, sputtering economy, and many failing policies, at least here in America. Around the rest of the world, however, it will be a very different story.
(BTW: I'm an independent, and a former Obama supporter, but the partisan news and their double-standards, as well as all the scandals and corruption and power abuses and outright dishonesty in this administration has me feeling awfully cynical about our government these days; which is a shame, because I thought Barack Obama was going to help correct this kind of thing. Ah, well: meet the new boss, same as the old boss.)
